Personally I'm one of those that is passive and doesn't really care too much. Do what makes you happy I guess. For her I can see bullying as a problem but I'm glad that her school supports her and is doing what they can to ease some of the bullying. Bullying seems to be on a rise and it's kinda sad I don't really see too much of a problem for what she is doing for now.

This is an issue which will continue to grow. How it will be handled is hard to say. I saw an article a while back on a school district pondering over a bathroom for a TG student.
I don't remember for sure now just exactly where it was located.

I wish my parents are very accepting like her parents when I was kid but... out of fear, I held those feelings for desires being a girl until I was in my early 20s. Even I was caught with girl clothes before when I was in my early teens, my mom was so furious so that affirmed it.

as a member of a household chock-full of post-ops, the subject of the up-and-coming generations has always sparked interest. and not just for that, but also because Karen and i both are active in our local transexual/transgender community whenever possible... and then there is with Karen (Her being a chemical-engineer) the knowledge of what long-term exposure to certain estrogen mimicking plastics (BPA) may or may not have done to contemporary/modern male virility..... Bisphenol A - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

the "tupper-wear question" as it is referred to at our house.
both Karen and i being old enough that it is unlikely to have had much if any effect on either of us as very young children, or growing up....

but still, She and i have slightly differing views on how our young trans-population should be treated. views no doubt forged in our own vastly different childhood experiences.... Karen's in Long-Island, N.Y.... early 50's.... and mine in Portland, Oregon out here on the wet and wild left coast in the late 50's early 60's.... (much less ridged/conservative if you ask me).

i am of the opinion (from observation and experience) that children must be permitted to display and test their own personal sense of gender whether discordant with their sex or not... given genital guidance in that expression... even offered neutral encouragement as required (so as not to sway the child one way or the other)..... and then let the child seek his or her own level of participation/transition into society as gender is a scale and not a pin-point. and we really should be trying to get away from the either-or concept of gender that many parents find more comfort in dealing with...

there will be things that the child can do and things that they can't do. all depending on both the child's force-of-will and societies general acceptance at any given moment in time, and place.

the parent is there as a support-system only in terms of temporary set-back or catastrophic failure, IMO... in the long-run, the child themselves must carry the fight for recognition/acceptance on their own shoulders as much as possible because like it or not; one day the parents will no longer be there... we all had to learn to fly at some point on our own. we as parents don't want to see our children on their own, but it is a fact of life, is it not. i don't want to see or think of my sisters on their own as they start out, but it is a fact i can't change.... try as i might!

on the other-hand, when i was very young.... no amount of bullying or ridicule in second and third grade could keep me from getting my hair as long as i could grow it. and then when the Beatles came to America in 64... i wasn't so out of place anymore.

and sure i wanted to wear the pretty clothes that the next-door girl got to wear, but just because that wasn't going to happen didn't mean that i couldn't express my wanting to be different in not dressing like the other boys in other ways. if it wasn't big sloppy lose-fitting long sweat-shirts that hung bellow my butt like a dress. it was the softest (feminine-like) sweater that i could find. or when i got old enough, the loudest bright-color supper bell-bottom hip-huger pants i could buy.... get a head-band even... there are lots of ways to express one gender non-conformity while advertising ones sexuality as a young kid... even in the 60's... even with your parents, brothers and class-mates calling you names. hell, just the fact that you were getting all that attention meant that you were getting somewhere.

find yourself not wanting to be in the boys-room with those other crude little monsters; i most certainly didn't! so hold it and pick your time and even which bath-room to use... that's what i did. even if i had to be careful how much water i drank at recess or being late back to class after lunch... pestering the teacher for a head-call at odd-times during the day, or even sneaking out to use the can at times. volunteering to do something for teacher and using the head while out doing that.... where there is a will there is a way!

if being different was easy, everyone would do it. and then it would be different. then those of us who truly needed to express some form of gender non-conformity would just have to find another way to do it, wouldn't we....

trading one closet for another has never been the answer. it's coming out of the closet and staying out of the closet that makes us truly free!

Interesting thoughts about parents and their roles, Fiver. I do agree that parents do seem to bail out their kids way too often nowadays, and they do need more independence. But this article talked about very young kids making choices about their gender expression. I would say that for a child in kindergarten, parents would need to take a very active role in helping their child define themselves, advocate, and describe who they are to others. But I do agree that the cold needs to do as much of this as possible, since they'll have to do it for the rest of their lives. It's a lot for a little one to carry, but it'll be easier if they start sooner.

On the actual article, I respect those children so much. To stand firm whole being denied and likely bullied by kids and adults alike takes a ton of courage. I really hope that living as their chosen gender gives them the happiness they're looking for, and that their presence leads to a more loving world. Kids have the right to be loved and accepted, even (especially) if they're different. I hope they all know how amazing they are.